Murder at the Flood

Detective Inspector Skelgill Investigates, Book 9

De: Bruce Beckham

Narrado por: Nicholas Camm

A stand-alone murder mystery, number nine in the series.

Meet maverick British detective DL Skelgill, "mad, bad and just a little bit cozy".

When latter-day lothario and expert kayaker Roger Alcock disappears on the night of the "Great Cockermouth Flood", his attractive wife Maeve takes 24 hours longer than might reasonably be expected to notify the authorities. But when Roger’s corpse washes up on the Solway coast, a postmortem suggests his death could legitimately be classified as misadventure. DI Skelgill, however - engaged as a rescuer to the inundated Cumbrian town - detects a sinister undercurrent that pervades the tightly knit community in which Roger Alcock moved. As the floodwater recedes, reasons surface why Roger’s erstwhile associates might celebrate his demise.

Could this be a murder - of the kind that suits the innocent as well as the guilty to hold their peace? Could spurned lovers and fleeced creditors and others who might benefit be acting in silent concert? Jealousy, revenge, greed...these are sentiments that trouble Skelgill - for he realises that unless he can divine a motive, he cannot begin to ascribe a crime.

To penetrate the mystery he enlists a female duo, a visiting TV reporter and the sister-in-law of the late Roger Alcock. But are these alluring ladies simply playing him for their own devices? While DS Jones is temporarily absent, Skelgill becomes doubly conflicted. Barely treading water in the case, he flounders in the perpetrator’s wake. Can his famous "sixth sense" come to his rescue in time - or will a second murder erase forever all trace of the killer?

©2017 Bruce Beckham (P)2018 Bruce Beckham

Narration got in the way

Story was a good one and had very engaging bits. Sadly the narration just got in the way for me. The accent was just too broad to be generally understandable and sometimes it felt as if Mr Camm was just trying too hard. This isn't Shakespeare and every word is not a gem. Opening the door and walking inside doesn't need to be read as if it were a dramatic moment to be carefully attended. I like his voice and if narration could be rolled back a bit, I would be a fan.

Narrator sounds totally bored

The first book wasn’t too bad once you got in sinc with the present tense action.
This book took the negative features of the first one and amplified them. The sometime usage of educated vocabulary belies the tackiness of the ongoing action. All the women are right off fashion runways ...and they all have the hots for the so-called hero. He does a magnificent job of fending them all off; a model of self-restraint. Boring!

Usually I enjoy this series

But Skelgill was thinking out of his pants too much in this story. Not my favorite